At my last appointment with a new ENT doctor (2 weeks ago) he put this steel cone with a hollow point inside my ears and then stuck something else inside that (which i didn't see) and proceeded to poke around a bit in there. It made my eyes water and i was coughing for a couple of minutes after he did it. But my main concern is since that appointment my tinnitus has been constant, whereas before i went to see him i would often get weeks or even months where my tinnitus was so low that i could barely notice it.

At the time he was doing it i was struck by how forceful and intrusive it seemed. Do you think the now constant high volume tinnitus is just a coincidence or could his careless poking have caused even more damage? Is it a normal thing for an ENT to do that?

The "steel cone" is called a speculum. It straightens out the external auditory canal to provide better visualization of the tympanic membrane, which is a totally normal thing for an ENT to do. Likely the "poking around" part involved the removal of some cerumen or debris. As to whether any actual damage might have been done, well that really depends on how careful or careless your ENT was as he conducted the procedure. And as far as that is concerned, I would have no way of knowing. Generally an exacerbation of tinnitus after such an examination is not due to damage and could be expected to settle down on its own. If your tinnitus remains at its present constant high volume after another four to six weeks, then I would have an ENT take another look to see if there is any structural irregularity that might be related to the exam.